Verstappen slammed by Marko after Chinese GP collision with Vettel

Max Verstappen has been slammed by Red Bull’s motorsport adviser Helmut Marko following he collided with Sebastian Vettel, which cost an easy one-two grand prix win in China.

Following the incident, the Dutchman handed a 10s time penalty, which subsequently saw him demoted from fourth to fifth – Marko puts the blame completely at the youngster’s door.

It is the second time in as many weeks that Verstappen has made a costly mistake following his clash with Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain. He was suffered with a puncture last weekend which forced him to withdraw from the race.

Marko was angry with Max’s aggressive driving style as he tried to undertake at the hairpin, and he has warned the 20-year-old to be more cautious in upcoming races.

“[Verstappen] needs to control himself a bit,” Marko told Movistar+.

“Max is very young and he’s made a mistake and apologised, it’s part of a race. I told him that his time will come, not to get ahead of himself.

“He knows what he’s lost, a victory. We have lost a double victory, a one-two, because our car was very quick and our strategy was very good.”

Max also went off while trying to pass Hamilton and lost a position to team mate Daniel Ricciardo, who went on to win the race.

“Yes he’s made some mistakes,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted. “But I remember when Sebastian was at a similar stage in his career, it wasn’t uncommon that he also made some mistakes.”

Horner said he’d already exchanged words with Verstappen about his performance today and believes his driver will learn from the race. “I’m fully confident that he’s a phenomenal talent. He’s smart enough to recognise the areas he needs to work on and I’ve got no doubt we well address that.”